This invention relates to the field of preparing products in netting. The invention is directed to preparation of food products in netting, such as hams or turkeys, and will be described specifically as used for hams. The invention is also directed to preparation of food products in casing. The invention can also be used for other food products such as chickens, sausages, cheeses, or vegetarian products. Additionally, the invention can be used to encase and/or net products other than foods.
Traditionally, meat products were enclosed in netting prior to processing. Removal of the netting after processing, whether it be cooking, smoking, curing, aging, or otherwise, often resulted in some of the meat products sticking to the netting and being pulled off during the removal process, leaving an unsightly appearance unpleasant to consumers.
The use of edible collagen films solved this problem. Meat products, including hams, turkeys, sausages, and whole-muscle products, are now conventionally enveloped in an edible collagen film. In the prior art, flat sheets of collagen film were turned over plows to form a tubular casing. More recently, meat products have been extruded through a tube or horn through a shir housing on which a tubular edible collagen film has been shirred. This method is described in, for example, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/695,115, Apparatus And Method To Net Food Products In Shirred Tubular Casing, and its continuation-in-part, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/867,977, Apparatus And Method To Net Food Products In Shirred Tubular Casing.
The encased meat product is then wrapped in a net and the product is further processed, such as cooking, aging, or smoking, as also described in, for example, the '115 and '977 applications described above.
The netting allows the processor to hang the meat product, whether it is a ham, turkey, or sausage, in a processing compartment. The processing step, whether it is smoking, steaming, cooking, curing, or otherwise, causes the meat to expand, pushing the meat against the netting and creating a dimpled appearance on the meat product. This dimpled appearance is considered pleasing to consumers. After the meat has been processed, the netting is removed easily, as it does not stick to the collagen film.
Various collagen films can be used, including flavored and colored films, to create various taste sensations or appearances. Additionally, some netting is treated prior to use. For example, smoke flavoring can be impregnated into the netting, which then seeps into the meat during processing to enhance the flavor of the meat. Also, the netting can be treated with a chemical that enables easy stripping of the netting from the meat after processing, so that the netting can be removed without pulling off chunks of meat. The product then is often wrapped in a clear film for sale.
Some food products, such as hams and turkeys, are wrapped in nets for final sale to consumers. For example, large fowl, particularly turkeys, are encased in a plastic, see-through wrapper, for sanitary reasons, and then enclosed in netting for package integrity and ease of handling. The netting provides a strong structure to hold the turkey and allows the consumer to see the packaged material. It is important that the netting be tight around the package, to provide a pleasing appearance to consumers. There is a marketing advantage to having tightly-netted packages.
In many cases, a handle or a hook is also applied to the package. Sausages and hams are often enclosed in netting prior to cooking or smoking. The use of a handle or hook is mandated in this situation, as there must be some way to handle the product in the cooking or smoking apparatus. The handles on these products are generally discarded after processing.
A handle is also useful to workers and customers in retail establishments, especially when the product is frozen, to make it easier to grab the product. A handle facilitates maneuvering the products, such as moving the products in and out of display cases, through checkout lanes, or in and out of the consumer's own refrigerator or freezer. Additionally, some consumers prefer to use a handle in order to avoid touching the package itself. Accordingly, there is a marketing advantage to having a handle on the product. In the case of turkeys or other poultry, it is important that the handle be applied at the rear-most point of the birds, which is where the legs point, to provide a pleasing appearance to purchasers.
Most of the same products also have a label of some type applied to the product. The label displays such data as weight, price per unit of weight, and total price. Other data, such as lot numbers, batch identification, product identification, or expiration date, are also common. The label can also contain identification information such as brand names or logos.
The netting process was traditionally done manually. Netting is manufactured in a long, continuous tube, usually of a plastic material but also from natural fibers. In the prior art, the tube of netting was rucked onto a product horn. (As used in this specification, the term “ruck” refers to the process of gathering a continuous tube of netting material over a tube or horn.) The netting was clipped at a first end of the product horn and the ham or a turkey in netting was placed in the second end of the product horn and pushed through. The ham or turkey contacted the clipped end of the netting and, as the ham or turkey was pushed through the product horn, was encased in the netting. A worker gathered the netting around the turkey or ham and clipped it to close the netting. The worker gathered the netting into a loop if a handle was to be applied. Sometimes precut netting is used, but the ham or turkey was still manually placed in the netting tube.
This prior art method was labor intensive. Additionally, it was difficult to obtain uniform tightness of netting. Additionally, the method required quite a bit of manual pulling and wrapping, making hand fatigue and injuries common. Moreover, the use of precut netting added a step in the manufacturing process and often resulted in wasted, excess netting.
Accordingly, automated or partially automated processes have been developed to net products such as hams and turkeys. These processes generally involve pushing the product into the proximal end of a product horn, which is inside and coaxial to a netting tube on which netting has been rucked. The distal end of the netting tube is clipped, the ham or turkey is pushed through the product horn, abutting against the clipped end of the netting tube, and as the ham or turkey exits the distal end of the tube, it pulls the rucked netting of the netting tube. The netting is then gathered around the product and clipped and severed. Clippers (which have integral cutters for severing the netting) are well-known in the art. An automated process for netting is disclosed in, for example, copending U.S. patent application Ser. No. 10/787,988, Automated Netter, filed Feb. 26, 2004.
The netting used in these processes usually arrives from the manufacturers in a flattened state and wrapped in a roll. Sometimes the netting is supplied loosely draped in a box. Typically, the netting is sold in a continuous roll stock, 1,200 to 1,500 feet long. In order to be used in an automated or partially-automated process as described above, the roll of netting has to be rucked onto a temporary netting tube. This rucking involves placing the netting coaxially onto the netting tube. Once the netting has been rucked onto the netting tube, the tube is placed coaxially over the product horn as described above. A typical netting tube will hold far less than the 1,200 to 1,500-foot lengths sold by netting manufacturers.
Various methods to ruck netting onto a netting tube are known in the art. All such methods, however, involve a separate netting tube that, once the netting has been rucked onto it, is placed over the product horn. Thus, disruptions and inefficiencies result. An extra employee is needed to ruck the netting onto the netting tube at a separate station from the netting machine. Once enough netted product has been created to deplete the supply of netting on the netting tube, the netting process must stop while the empty netting tube is removed. The process must await a new supply of netting, either for the time it takes to ruck new netting onto the sole netting tube or at least for the time it takes to unload the empty tube and attach a spare tube with rucked netting. Thus, the expenses of at least one extra netting tube is often required, as well as the expense of a separate rucking apparatus and the expense to operate that separate apparatus. Under any of the prior art methods, downtime and increased labor costs result.
Accordingly, a need exists for an apparatus and method to produce netted products, such as hams and turkeys, in a more continuous process. The present invention fulfills this need.